Netflix makes it easier to share an account with 4-stream plan

The dirty little secret about streaming video and music services is that paid accounts are often shared with others. That’s fine if everyone using the account is in the same family, but if you start handing out your HBO Go or Netflix account to your friends, you’re likely violating the service’s terms.

Some companies shrug it off. The New York Times’ Jenna Wortham asked HBO executives about the sharing of HBO Go signons and they appeared unconcerned:

Do the companies, particularly HBO, view this as especially problematic? I hesitated before asking, worried that any inquiries would prompt a crackdown, with the result that I’d become the most-hated person on the Internet.

But to the collective relief of nearly everyone I know, the companies with whom I spoke seemed to have little to no interest in curbing our sharing behavior — in part because they can’t. They have little ability to track and curtail their customers who are sharing account information, according to Jeff Cusson, senior vice president for corporate affairs at HBO. And, he said, the network doesn’t view the sharing “as a pervasive problem at this time.”

Netflix on the other hand, has decided to take a different approach. On Monday, as part of its quarterly earnings announcement [PDF], Netflix unveiled a new plan that allows for more simultaneous streaming of content.

Right now, Netflix limits simultaneous streams to two per account for $7.99 a month. The new plan, when available, will allow for up to four streams for $11.99 a month.

We’ve got three people in our family sharing our Netflix account, and we’ve never run into the two-stream limitation. There are other issues with sharing an account, though. I see some really weird “Recommended for You” suggestions that show up after my son has been watching Netflix. And I’ll dial back the quality of Netflix’s stream to save LTE data when watching on my iPhone at the gym, so my wife sees a lousy picture while she’s at home watching Netflix on our HDTV.

But I can imagine that, in families where people spend a lot of time watching different types of shows, having a four-stream plan would make sense. However, Netflix says it expects fewer than 1 percent of its customers will upgrade to the more expensive plan. Still it may become the favored plan for those who like to share their accounts with non-family members.

One other interesting nugget from Netflix’s news on Monday: The company now has more subscribers in the U.S. than HBO. Netflix has 29.17 million subscribers domestically, compared to 28.7 for HBO. Worldwide, HBO is still ahead with 114 million subscribers, while Netflix only has 7.14 million outside the U.S.

Netflix continues to produce original content, recently releasing a horror series called “Hemlock Grove” that’s been likened to “Twin Peaks” from the ’90s. And coming next month: a new batch of “Arrested Development” episodes.